Violent province's 27 female suicide bombers who set out to destroy Iraqi hopes of peace

A female suicide bomber killed four Sunni guards and wounded at least 15 civilians at a checkpoint in Baquba last Sunday. Photograph: AFP/Getty

Young women have been trained in their dozens to become suicide bombers in one Iraqi province in an attempt to reverse an improving security climate and derail talks about an upcoming security pact, Iraqi officials believe.

The assessment follows the latest lethal blast on Sunday at a checkpoint outside a hospital in Baquba, which is believed to have been carried out by a girl as young as 13. Pathologists and police are still trying to determine her exact age and identity.

The girl's death has taken to 27 the number of female bombers from the province of Diyala, 37 miles (60 km) north of Baghdad, in the past 18 months and has led to an urgent Iraq-wide security review, which is likely to involve more intrusive searches of women at checkpoints.

The latest attack killed four former insurgents who had since become anti-al-Qaida guards from the so-called Sons of Iraq, who are increasingly being targeted by the remnants of global jihadis networks, comprised of foreign Arabs and Iraqis.

While much of Iraq has enjoyed improved security and stability in recent months, Diyala has defied a nationwide trend of a sharp drop in deaths and attacks. Iraqi government officials and representatives from Diyala met yesterday for a two day conference in Baghdad aimed at determining why so many female bombers have emerged from the province.

A total of 21 attackers – all from Diyala – have managed to bypass heightened security since mid-2007 – most of them since January this year. Five have been caught and one has surrendered. Officials, guided by human rights and women's issues workers have determined that the female bombers are being indoctrinated by at least three clerics operating from an entrenched al-Qaida stronghold in Diyala – a former Ba'athist heartland.

The area has been transformed into a safe haven for jihadis who have regrouped there after fleeing the coalition-led surge of troops elsewhere in the Sunni Arab heartland.

Khadija Assad, a Diyala-based human rights official who advises the Iraqi government on women's affairs, said the area's al-Qaida-aligned sheikhs adhered to the doctrine of an anti-Iranian group, which had trained and used female operatives, including suicide bombers, over the past 20 years. She claimed the newly-arrived Sheikhs, as well as local Imams, had targeted women who had lost their husbands or sons during clashes with coalition forces, or Iraqi troops, over the past five years.

An intelligence assessment provided for the Iraqi government claims other women and girls were from dysfunctional families and were told by local clerics that the only way to redeem themselves and their families was through agreeing to take part in a suicide bombing.

The girls are typically indoctrinated over a four-day period, led by a senior cleric, who prays and fasts with them, while keeping them separate from their family. Sometimes the girls are also mentored by a group of loyalists, known loosely as a martyrdom preparation committee.

The report suggests Diyala was chosen because it is home to Islamic leaders who were loyal to executed president Saddam Hussein and felt disenfranchised by the subsequent attempts to share the Iraqi Ba'athists' former monopoly on power.

Diyala is also seen as strategically close to its support base in Iran, and central enough to enable the use of female attackers eventually to be spread around the country.

"Until 2006 all the suicide bombers in Iraq were men," said Assad. "When the Americans killed the men in the area the leaders here changed strategy and started to use women for spectacular attacks.

"There have been teams going into Diyala secretly for the past few months to try and get to the origins of exactly why this is happening.

"It is clear that the remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq have thrown all of their energies into Diyala, which they see as a starting point for a new caliphate. They have brought land there and have total control and influence.

"We still need to find out exactly why this is happening, but we have some very solid ideas now and there is an all-of-government strategy to deal with this."

The intelligence report suggests one foreign Islamic figure, of either Saudi, or Syrian origin, selected scores of girls around 13 years old as wives for himself and his loyalists over a six-week period in December and January.

"The damage that was done then is huge," said Assad. "We really don't know the full scale of it, but we do know that there are many families who have been shamed and are likely targets for al-Qaida who will promise them god's forgiveness."

An Iraqi member of parliament and chairwoman of the children and families' committee, Samir al-Mousawi, said a decree by an American-backed Imam had convinced local al-Qaida leaders to steer towards using female bombers.

"The Imam said that God does not allow them to kill themselves," she said. "It was a speech directly targeted at al-Qaida. So they came to the conclusion that it was OK to use women instead."

Mousawi suggested a community matriarch was also playing a pivotal role in the indoctrination process. However the intelligence assessment had uncovered nothing to support her assertion.

Al-Qaida in Iraq announced on its website a push to step-up attacks against government installations and coalition troops as a deadline draws near for the signing of a security pact between the US and Iraqi governments. Talks are at a stalemate over troop numbers and responsibilities that both sides want prescribed for the next year.

Growing toll

Some female suicide bombings in Diyala in 2008:

January 2 Attack on a neighbourhood volunteer checkpoint in Baquba kills 10 people and wounds eight.

January 16 Eight die outside a Shiite mosque in Diyala province.

May 1 Bomber, disguised as a pregnant woman and accompanied by a male, attacks wedding in Diyala province. At least 35 people are killed and 65 wounded.

June 22 Device detonated outside a government complex in Baquba kills 15 and wounds 40.

July 25 Woman blows herself up as she approaches US-allied Sunni fighters in Baquba, killing at least eight and wounding 24 others.

August 11 Attack on a market checkpoint in Baquba kills one police officer and wounds 14 people.

October 8 Ten die in strike outside court of appeals building in Baquba by 17th female suicide bomber in Diyala province this year.